“In a growth mindset, challenges are exciting rather than threatening. So rather than thinking, oh, I’m going to reveal my weaknesses, you say, wow, here’s a chance to grow” - Carol Dweck.

Many exciting challenges and opportunities to learn, grow and shine await the Year 5 students as they enter their final term of this year. From team leadership opportunities to scientific investigations to app designing projects.

This term, the Year 5 students will have the opportunity to visit the Science Labs as part of their unit, ‘What’s the matter?’. Students look forward to carrying out a number of investigations related to changes in the states of matter. This includes working in the science laboratories where they explore safety measures and lab equipment. Students will enjoy investigating changes to the states of matter through a number of practical experiments.

In Design Technologies, students are embarking on an exciting project that involves them designing an app that solves an identified real-world problem. They will use the program Book Creator as a platform and tool for their digital design. Students’ designs will come complete with a home page, flow chart, app planning, data sheet and even include an app icon. Very exciting and engaging times lie ahead in terms of Digital Technologies.

Flowing on from the end of last term when the Year 5 cohort attended Bornhoffen Leadership Camp, speeches for captaincy positions were conducted last week. Presenting students demonstrated great bravery and determination as they presented in front of their peers and told their stories of what makes them unique individuals. The entire cohort of students and staff alike found these uplifting leadership messages truly inspiring and strengthening. A Growth Mindset is of particular importance as students transition into Year 6, embracing the wonderful leadership opportunities that await them with enthusiasm and zest.

Georgina Burrows, Dean West, Caitlin Sterry and Kate Lawrence | Year 5 Teachers

Gold Coast Schools Stand Together for World Mental Health Day!

As a result of a new initiative by A.B. Paterson College Captain, Charley Ellwood, the APS College Captains from four Gold Coast schools have been meeting semi-regularly to discuss the issues facing our collective communities. It was here they focussed on an issue important to us all, mental health, and decided their first collective action be for World Mental Health Day.

On Monday 10 October, all of our students and staff from A.B. Paterson College stood together for an awareness campaign, to recognise World Mental Health Day. Each student and staff member was given a Mental Awareness Ribbon and encouraged to have a conversation about mental health within our A.B. community. Our students recognised the importance of looking out for each other and the importance of reaching out if they need support.

A.B. Paterson College Captain, Charley Ellwood said, "World Mental Health Day presents us with a unique opportunity to come together as a community to celebrate and recognise the importance of maintaining our mental wellbeing on both an individual and collective scope. In collaboration with other APS Schools through the College Captains Committee, we all recognised how important it was that we have these conversations, particularly within a school environment. I have been so impressed by the positive reception from our students and cannot wait to hear about the positive change that arises following these conversations."

The overall objective of World Mental Health Day is to raise awareness of mental health issues around the world and to mobilise efforts in support of mental health.

The Containers for Change - Battle of the Schools is over! Representatives from our Sustainability Committee travelled to Express Recycling Depot, Carrara. They saw first-hand the process of how our containers are recycled and precisely what they can be turned into, for example beach benches, buoys and aircraft parts. 

Meaghan Scanlon, the Minister for the Environment, presented the awards and over 1,016 containers were recycled by our school alone. As a community, participants helped our local schools save over 172,000 bottles and cans from landfill. A huge achievement and the students were buzzing! 

We now have a green bin located at the Marble Arch drop-off zone, right near the gate, so it’s a one stop drop for parents, kids and cans. 

Thank you for helping make the world a greener place for our little people! 

Daisy Ross | Junior Service Learning Co-ordinator

On Friday 7 October and Saturday 8 October, A.B. Paterson College’s Open A Boys and Girls Touch Football teams competed in the Gold Coast Titans All Schools Touch Football Tournament (GCTAS).

GCTAS is an annual touch football event run by Queensland Touch Football. This year, the event was held at the Gold Coast Performance Centre at Runaway Bay, thanks to the support of Major Events Gold Coast. All Schools is the world’s largest touch football tournament, with over 450 teams representing various schools both nationally and internationally. It is a seeded round robin-based competition where teams are placed in pools of 6-8 teams depending on the size of the division, which provides school teams with around 7 games. Across the five-day tournament, over 6,000 students took to the field playing over 1,700 games across 23 fields, attracting between 6,000 and 10,000 spectators.

While this was not the first time A.B. Paterson College had a team competing in this tournament, it had been many years since they had done so; therefore, it has been an event on the College calendar that all of the staff and students involved were very much looking forward to.

In their new A.B. Brumbies attire, the students looked the part and performed extremely well across the entire competition, mixing it with every school they came up against. Both teams steadily improved across the whole tournament, both individually and collectively, and obviously experienced a much higher level of competition than what they would generally be exposed to in the local APS competition. Both teams managed to secure some victories and draws, as well as experiencing defeat by some of the more experienced touch football teams. An aspect that was extremely rewarding, particularly from the coaches’ point of view, was the opportunity the students had, and subsequently took, to learn some of the more intricate facets of touch football play.

The Open A Girls had many standout performances across their two days of competition; however, the A.B. Brumbies Girls’ player of the tournament was Sophie Burtenshaw. Sophie’s speed, determination and energy caused a lot of nerves for opposition teams and, while there were a handful of challengers, she thoroughly deserved this award.

The Open A Boys also had a number of players that played exceptionally well and, while the Boys’ player of the tournament was also hotly contested, Alex Cannen was awarded this honour. Alex’s consistency, work ethic and leadership are the main reasons why he was able to stand out amongst such a high level of competition.

It is important to thank our dedicated team of coaches, Taite Rolfe, Mr Matt Stopel, Marama Thomas and Mrs Vanessa Baxter, who have put a lot of time in to ensuring this competition was a successful one, and happily gave up their Friday night and all of Saturday to provide what was a wonderful opportunity to our students. The Sports Department team consisting of Mr Nathan Burgess, Ms Sara Eade, and Ms Emily O’Sullivan also deserve praise for the work they have put in to arranging such impressive A.B. Brumbies uniforms and making sure that our teams were enrolled in the competition for the first time in many years, and organised in an eminently professional manner. Lastly, it is imperative that we show our gratitude to the number of parents and students (both past and present) that came to support our teams in this tournament – this is a great sign that not only our Touch Football program but Sporting program is on the right track.

I look forward to seeing the teams implement what was learnt from the 2022 All Schools Touch Football Tournament back in the APS competition and finish what has thus far been a fantastic season for both teams in style.

The 2022 A.B. Brumbies Open A Boys and Girls Touch Football Teams selected to compete at GCTAS:

Lachlan Webb | Head of Touch Football

Congratulations to Jonas Longhurst, Lachlan Kelly and Chelsea Howell who recently participated in the State Honours Ensemble Program at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music. 

The students joined other musicians from around the state in the weekend program of workshops and rehearsals, before presenting a beautiful concert to family, friends and the wider community. 

Special mention to Jonas, who was successfully nominated for the program for the sixth year in a row! 

What a wonderful achievement for all of our young vocalists. 

Sharyn Walker-Joyce | Head of The Arts

Congratulations to Nolan Yu (Year 1) who represented Roos Short Track Speed Skating Club as part of Queensland Ice Racing team and won the first place of Midget 2000m Relay in 2022 Australian Open Short Track Speed Skating Championships.

Nolan is also to be congratulated for achieving sixth place of Nipper's competition (Under 9 Years Old) in 2022 Australian Open Short Track Speed Skating Championships.

Well done to Nolan on his achievements.

Nathan Burgess | Director of Activities

We're very excited to have the Cornerstone Concert 2022 held in our LPAC Theatre this Saturday evening, 15 October 2022 at 7pm!

You'll be entertained by not only our Old Collegians in the Cornerstone Chorus, but also our Senior Girls and Boys A Capella Choirs.

Purchase your tickets for $27 each here, it's sure to be a concert not to be missed! Book your tickets HERE now! 

We think you'll enjoy this link to their latest music video, where the group sings 'It's a Beautiful Day' by Michael Buble. CLICK HERE to watch the video.

Please join us in supporting our Old Collegians and this amazing group of young men who support our College in so many ways! See you there!

CLICK HERE to view the flyer.